Nesting and stacking trays



y 1961 J. D. WILSON R. 24,984

NES'IING AND STACKING TRAYS Original Filed June 18, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet1 n n a l n n n .1 a a 36 n a n y 1961 J. D. WILSON Re. 24,984

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Hie/91s, Idea/s5, Jisrse 1565/9915 United States Patent 24,984 NESTINGAND STACKING TRAYS James D. Wilson, Long Beach, Calif., assignor toBanner Metals, Inc., Compton, a corporation of Ohio No. 2,925,919, datedFeb. 23, 1960, Ser. No. 591,827, June 18, 1956. Application for reisueOct. 28, 1960, Ser. No. 65,877

Claims. (Cl. 211-126) Matter enclosed in heavy brackets II appears inthe original patent but forms no part of this reissue specification;matter printed in italics indicates the additions trade by reissue.

'This invention relates to trays and in particular to trays which may bestacked one upon the other when loaded and which may be nested onewithin the other when empty.

It is an object of the invention to provide a tray which may be stackedvertically upon a similar tray and which may be nested within a similartray without turning one of the trays ninety degrees with respect to theother, the nested trays meeting along horizontal surfaces so that nowedging action occurs. A further object of the invention is to providesuch a tray which may be so nested and stacked without requiring anymoving parts, such as bails or the like.

It is another object of the invention to provide stacking and nestingtrays with each tray having means for indexing or centering it withrespect to the trays stacked above and below it so that the stack ismaintained in vertical alignment, and with each tray having means forindexing or centering it with respect to trays nested above. and belowit so that the nested trays will be maintained in vertical alignment.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a tray which may benested with a plurality of identical trays with each tray resting onside rails of the next tray below and resting on the end rails of thenth tray below, 11 being a small whole number.

It is another object of the invention to provide a stacking and nestingtray having parallel upper end rails which provide for slidingengagement with the tray stacked above, which serve to support andcenter the tray stacked above and which are used as handles in movingthe tray from one point to another.

. It is a further object of the invention to provide a stacking andnesting tray which is suitable for handling products such as loaves ofbread or the like, the tray having open ends and a bottom with spacedparallel ridges extending from one end to the other so that the tray maybe easily loaded while stacked with a plurality of similar trays.

It is another object of the invention to provide a stacking and nestingtray suitable for use with square milk cartons or the like, the traybeing provided with a centrally positioned band which together with thebottom of the tray serves to define a rectangular space having verticalupstanding sides.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novelcombinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear inthe course of the following description. The drawings merely show andthe description m'erely describes preferred embodiments of the presentinvention which are given by way of illustration or example.

In the drawings:

. Fig. l is an isometric view of a preferred embodiment of theinvention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 22 of Fig. 1, with aportion of a second tray stacked on top of the first tray;

F? v ICC Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of t Fig.1, with a portion of a second tray stacked on top of the first tray;

Fig. 4 is a side view showing the tray of Fig. 1 being nested with anidentical tray;

Fig. 5 is a side view showing a plurality of the trays of Fig. l nestedtogether;

Fig. 6 is a partial sectional view taken along the line 66 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is an isometric view of an alternative embodiment of theinvention;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line 8-8 of Fig. 7, with aportion of a second tray stacked on the first tray;

Fig. 9 is a sectional view taken along the line 9 9 of Fig. 7, with aportion of a second tray stacked on the first tray;

Fig. 10 is a side view showing the tray of Fig. 7 being nested with anidentical tray; and

Fig. 11 is a side view showing two trays of the em bodiment of Fig. 7nested together.

The embodiment shown in Figs. 1 through 6 includes a tray bottom unit 20having opposite spaced sides 20a and 20b and opposite spaced ends 20cand 20d. The tray bottom unit carries lower end rails 21, 22. Lower siderails 23, 24 are disposed in spaced relation above the tray bottom unitlaterally inward from the sides 20a and 20b of the tray bottom unit.Rigid upstanding memunit are in spaced, substantially parallelrelationship to the ends and sides of the. tray bottom unit. Theupstanding members and the rails are preferably manufactured from steelrod or the like, the rod being formed to the desired configuration andwelded in position. The tray bottom unit 20 is preferably formed from arectangular piece of sheet metal with an upstanding edge 36 around theperiphery and a depressed central portion 37 having an opening 38therein. This preferred form of the bottom is best seen in Figs. 2, 3and 6. The opening 38 is covered by an open grid consisting of parallelspaced rods 39resting on the central portions 37 of the bottom andextending from one side to the other of the opening 38 and parallelspaced rods 40 resting on the central portion 37 and on the rods 39 andextending from one end to the other of the opening 38. The open gridpermits small particles to drop through the tray, thereby aiding inkeeping the tray clean. The parallel spaced rods 40 are advantageous inthat they serve as runners and guides for objects, such as loaves ofbread, being loaded into the tray through the space between the upperand lower end rails.

The upstanding edge 36 of the bottom is corrugated in shape to increasethe rigidity of the structure. This corrugated form includes a concavesection 44 in which the end rails 21, 22 are positioned, as seen in Fig.2. In this embodiment, the end rail 21 is wrapped around the adjacentcorners of the bottom 20 and is formed integrally with the verticalmembers 25, 28 which are attached to the sides of the bottom atcorresponding points set back from the corners thereof. The constructionat the opposite end of the tray is identical to that just described.

A second tray 45, which is identical tothe tray described, may bestacked on top of the first tray with its bottom res'ting on the upperend rails 29 and of the first tray and with the depressed portion 46thereof positioned between the upper end rails 29 and 30 of the'firsttray, thereby providing vertical alignment of the two stacked trays.

7 Referring now to Fig. 3, the upper ends of the upstanding members 26and 27 at one end of the tray are spaced further apart than the lowerends thereof and the. upstanding members, 25 and 28 at the opposite endof the tray have corresponding configurations. The lower side rail 23 iscarried between the upstanding members 27 and 28 spaced upward from thebottom of the tray. A rod 49' is carried between the upstanding members27 and 28 along the side edge 36 of the tray bottom to inerease thestrength of the structure. The upper side rail 31 is formed integrallywith the, upstanding members 27 and 28, the upper side rail having acentral portion 50 which extends laterally inward of the remainder ofthe upper side rail so that the distance between the central portion 50and a corresponding central portion 51 of the upper side rail 32 is justslightly greater than the over-all side-to-side dimension of the traybottom 20. Thus when the second tray is stacked on the first tray and isresting on and positioned between the upper end rails 29 and 30 it willalso be positioned between the central portions and 51, therebyproviding indexing or centering in two directions normal to each otherso that the stacked trays will be a vertical interlocked structure.

The tray of the invention may be lifted by using the upper end rails 29and 30 as handles. In carrying out the stacking operation, a lower edgeof the tray held by the operator, such as the edge 54 of the tray 45 ofFig. 3, is rested on that portion of the upper end rails in the zoneindicated by the arrow 55 of Fig. 3 with the overhanging portion of theupper tray being supported by the operator. Then the upper tray is slidalong the upper end rails to the left as viewed in Fig. 3 until theupper tray drops into the center position.

Two trays may be nested one within the other by tilting the upper tray45 as shown in Fig. 4 so that its bottom 56 will pass between the upperend rails 29, 30'

or the lower tray. Then the bottom of the upper tray rest on-the lowerside rails 23 and 24 of the lower tray, as seen in Figs. 5 and 6. Thedistance between the lower side rails 23, 24 is slightly greater thanthe over-all side-to-side dimension of the depressed central portion 37of the bottom of the tray so that the upper tray will be positioned andcentered in vertical alignment with the lower tray. The upward flaringof the vertical member 26 and 27 described above and shown in Fig. 3permits the upper tray to be supported on the lower side rails of thelower tray with the contact surface between the two trays lying in ahorizontal plane so that thereis no wedging action occurring which wouldmake the nested trays diflicult to separate. Each of the verticalmembers is formed with a portion 59 (Fig. 3) oil-set outward from alower portion 60 a distance less than the width'of the lower portion 60and with both portions 59 and 60 lying in a common plane (Fig. 2). Thepositions of the lower side rails with respect to the bottom of the trayand the slope of the plane in which the portions 59 and 60 ofthevertical members lie are selected so that when one tray is nestedwithin another, as shown in Fig. 5, the upper tray will not quite engagethe vertical members of the tray below, thereby providing end-to-endcentering for the nested trays in vertical alignment.

3 Four identical trays are shown nested together in Fig. 5 with thebottom of each tray resting on the lower side rails ,4 ot the trayimmediately below it. The vertical distance between the upper surfacesof the upper end rails 29 and 30 and the surface 62 of the bottomwhichrests on the upper end rails of the next lower tray when stacked isthree times greater than the distance between the upper surface of thelower side rails 23, 24 and the surface 63 0f the bottom which rests onthe lower side rails of the next tray below when nested. Then whenfouror more" identical trays are nested as seen in Fig. 5, each of thetrays except the lower three will be resting on both the lower siderails of the tray immediately beneath it and on the upper end rails ofthe third tray beneath it, thereby increasing the rigidity and strengthof the nested structure and permitting a larger number of trays to benested together. The 3 to 1 ratio of vertical distances describedabovecan of course be any small whole number such as 2, 3, 4, 5, or the like.

An alternative embodiment of the invention which is especially adaptedto transport square-shaped milk cartons or the like is shown in Figs. 7through 11. This embodiment' comprises a tray 70 having a bottom unit 71having opposite spaced sides 71a and 71b and opposite spaced endsconstituted by lower end rails 72, 73. Lower side rails 74, 75 aredisposed in spaced relation above the tray bottom unit. Rigid upstandingmembers 76, 77, 78, 79 extend up from the tray bottom unit and at theirupper ends are connected to an open tray top unit composed of upper endrails 80, 81 and upper side rails 82, 83. An intermediate band 84extends around the upstanding members 7679 between the tray bottom unit71 and the tray top unit 83. This tray may be manufactured in the mannerdescribed in conjunction with the embodiment of Fig. 1. The bottom 71comprises a' rectangular sheet 87 (Fig. 88 and a large central opening89 with a sheet 90 having an over-all pattern of diamond-shaped openingstherein mounted on the sheet 87.

The lower end rail 72 is U-shaped having a center arm 93 and side arms94, with the three arms lying in a horizontal plane. The bottom 71 ispositioned between the' side arms 94 and 95 with the center arm 93'spaced from the turned-up edge of the bottom. In the embodiment shown inFig. 7, the upstanding members 76' and 77 are formed integrally with theside arms 94 and 95, respectively, of the lower end rail and extendupward from the sides of the bottom 71 at points set back the corners ofthe bottom. The construction of the other end of the tray is identicalto that just described.

'Ihe upper end rails 80 and 81 have corresponding raised centralportions 96 and 97, respectively, which are spaced apart a distanceslightly greater than the over-all end-to-end dimension of the bottom71. The lower end rails 72 and 73 are spaced from the bottom 71 adistance slightly greater than the thickness of the central portions96'and 97 of the top end rails so that when a second tray 98 is stackedon top of the first tray 70 with the side arms of the U-sh'aped'lowerend rails of the upper tray resting on the upper end rails of the lowertray, the raised portions 96 and 97 of the lower tray will be positionedin the spaces between the lower end rails and the bottom of the uppertray, as seen in Fig. 8.

The raised central portion 97 of the upper end rail 81 has shoulders100, 101 at each end thereof, respectively, spaced'so that the distanceacross the shoulders is slightly less than the distance between the sidearms of the U-shaped lower end rail 73. The upper end rail 80 isprovided with similar shoulders 102, 103. 1 When the" upper tray 98 isstacked on the lower tray 70, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9, the positioningof the central portions" 96 and 97 in the spaces between the lower endrails and the bottom serves to center and interlock the upper tray onthe lower tray both sidewise and endwise, thereby providing a rigidvertically aligned stack.

As best seen in Fig; 9 the inner surfaces of opposing 8) having aturned-up edge" ends 105, 106 and opposing side sections 107, 108 of theintermediate band 84 are positioned above and in vertical alignment withthe outer surfaces of the upturned edge 88 of the bottom 71 to define avertically extending space of rectangular cross section within the trayin which a plurality of rectangular or square-shaped cartons or the likecan be snugly packed.

Trays which are constructed according to the embodiment of Fig. 7 may benested in the same manner as those described in conjunction with Fig. l,the nesting operation being shown partially completed in Fig. 10 andcompleted in Fig. 11. When nested, the upper tray 98 rests on the endsof the lower side rails 74, 75 of the lower tray 70, the lower rails 74,75 having raised shoulders 110 adjacent each end thereof with thedistance over the shoulders on each of the side rails being slightlyless than the distance between the lower ends of the vertical memberswhich rest on the ends of the lower side rails of the tray nested below.Referring to Fig. 9, a portion 111 of each vertical member is ofisetoutward from a lower portion 112 a distance slightly greater than thewidth of the vertical member so that when one tray is nested withinanother, the upper tray will be centered side-to-side between theportions 111 of the vertical members. Thus the nested trays are alignedand interlocked both sidewise and endwise.

Another means for end-to-end centering of nested trays is also providedin the embodiment of Figs. 7 to 11. The

intermediate band 84 is positioned vertica'lly so that whenv one tray isnested with another, the ends 105, 106 of the intermediate band willoccupy the same horizontal plane as the upper end rails 80, 81 of thenext tray below (Fig. 11). Since the ends 105, 106 are in verticalalignment with the edge 88 of the bottom 71 and since the distancebetween the upper end rails 80, 81 is made slightly greater than theend-to-end dimension of the bottom, the intermediate band 84 maintainsthe nested trays in endwise alignment.

The relative distances between the upper end rails and the bottom andthe lower side rails and the bottom may be selected in the same manneras described in conjunction with the embodiment of Fig. 1, so that aplurality of the trays of the embodiment of Fig. 7 may be nestedtogether with the upper trays resting on the side rails of the nextlower tray and also on the end rails of the nth lower tray, where n is asmall whole number.

Although exemplary embodiments of the invention have been disclosed anddiscussed, it will be understood that other applications of theinvention are possible and that the embodiments disclosed may besubjected to various changes, modification and substitutions withoutnecessarily departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a tray adapted to be stacked with or nested with a plurality ofidentical trays and comprising a tray bottom unit having spaced oppositeends and spaced opposite sides, an open tray top unit disposed abovesaid tray bottom unit and comprising spaced opposite ends and spacedopposite sides which extend between said last-mentioned ends and definetherewith an opening, said ends of the tray top unit being positionedcloser to each other than said ends of the tray bottom unit, wherebywhen two such trays are stacked together the tray bottom unit of theupper tray rests on top of the ends of the tray top unit of the lowertray, said sides of the tray bottom unit being positioned closer to eachother than said sides of the tray top unit to permit nesting of saidtrays with one another, and rigid members connecting said tray bottomunit to said tray top unit at the respective sides thereof, said rigidmembers having portions which extend down from the tray top unit and aredisposed laterally outward from the respective sides of the tray bottomunit so as to permit the my bottom unit of an upper tray to be inserteddown toward the tray bottom unit of a lower tray when said trays arebeing nested together, said rigid members being connected to the traybottom unit inward from the latters ends an amount suflicient to permitone end of the tray bottom unit of an upper tray to be inserted underthe corresponding end of the tray top unit of a lower tray and theopposite end of the tray bottom unit of said upper tray moved downinside the opposite end of the tray top unit of said lower tray whensaid trays are being nested together, the improvement which comprises:support members at the respective opposite sides of the tray which arespaced above the tray bottom unit and below the tray top unit and arepositioned for engagement with one of said units on the next adjacenttray when the trays are nested together, said support members beingdisposed at a level above the tray bottom unit suflicient to maintainthe tray bottom units of successive nested trays spaced from oneanother.

2. The tray of claim 1 wherein said support members are disposedlaterally inward from the respective sides of the tray bottom unit toprovide supports for the tray bottom unit of the next higher tray whenthe trays are nested together.

3. The tray of claim 1 wherein said support members present portionswhich are disposed substantially directly vertically above correspondingportions at the respective sides of the tray bottom unit and laterallyinward from the respective sides of the tray top unit to providesupports for the tray bottom unit of the next higher tray when thetraysare nested together.

4. In a tray adapted to be stacked with or nested with a plurality ofidentical trays and comprising a tray bottom unit including supportingportions and having spaced opposite edges, an open troy top unitdisposed above said tray bottom unit and comprising at least two spacedopposite edges, said edges of the tray top unit including supportingportions vertically aligned with corresponding ones of the supportingportions of the tray bottom unit, whereby when two such trays arestacked together the supporting portions of the trap bottom unit of theupper tray rest on top of corresponding ones of the supporting portionsof the tray top unit of the lower tray, at least some of said edges ofthe tray bottom unit being positioned closer to each other than saidedges of the tray top unit to permit nesting of said trays with oneanother, and rigid members connecting said tray bottom unit to said traytop unit at the respective edges thereof, said rigid members havingportions which extend down from the tray top unit and are disposedlaterally outward from the respective edges of the tray bottom unit soas to permit the tray bottom unit of an upper tray to be inserted downtoward the tray bototm unit of a lower tray when said trays are beingnested together, and support members at respective opposite edges of thetray which are spaced above the tray bottom unit and below the trap topunit and are positioned for engagement with one of said units on thenext adjacent tray when the trays are nested together, said supportmembers being disposed at a level above the tray bottom uni: sufficientto maintain the tray bottom units of successive nestesd trays spacedfrom one another.

5. The tray of claim 4 wherein said support members are disposedlaterally inward from the respective edges of the tray bottom unit toprovide supports for the tray bottom unit of the next higher tray whenthe trays are nested together.

References Cited in the file of this patent or the original patent1,955,236 Jarvis Apr. 17, 1934 2,662,662 Moorhea'd Dec. 15, 19532,782,936 Lockwood Feb. 26, 1957

